Tuesday, August 01, 2017

What does a
kid who’s only goal was to go to medical school and be the world’s best
cardiothoracic surgeon do when he flunks second semester organic chemistry? It’s
not a question I was ever prepared to think about much less answer. I suppose
that’s what happens when everything seems to come easy to you, until one day it
doesn’t.

In those
days at Texas Tech, most premed students majored in biochemistry with a minor
in biology. I found myself halfway to a degree in biochemistry with no clue
what to do with it when I graduated. The obvious but undesirable answer was to
sell drugs to doctors for some big pharmaceutical company – how humiliating for
the kid who was going to be the next Michael DeBakey. As part of my degree
plan, I enrolled in Undergraduate Research 4000 thinking I would get a taste of
the research lab which I somehow envisioned was different than the laboratory
coursework I had experienced. This is when my path first crossed with Dr.
Robert W Shaw, at least I think it was our first significant interaction. It
turned out to be the beginning of a 30-year friendship that lasts to this day.

My
undergraduate research experience didn’t turn out as I envisioned. Bob asked me
and my two cohorts to forego working in the lab for working in the library. We
each had a list of journals and topics that were relevant to his interests and
we were to go to the library each week and scan the journals for the topics at
hand and bring back citations for any relevant papers. Well, that’s an easy “A.”
As it turns out, that undergraduate “research” experience turned out to be
critical to my professional development. First, it gave me a broader exposure
to science outside of whatever essentials we covered in classwork. Reading those
papers opened the world of science beyond the old lessons of the textbook to
the frontiers of biochemistry. Second, and perhaps more important, it got me
into the habit of keeping up with the current literature and thus the cutting
edge of scientific research. Even as I started graduate school and into my
postdoc work, I made it a point to go the library each week and scan my
favorite journals.

During that
year, I decided that instead of pushing pills to doctors, I would go on to
graduate school and decided to stay at Texas Tech. My intention was to work
with Dr. Shaw and so I started out in his lab. However, when it came time to
choose a lab for my doctoral work, my friends and I chose the new professor in
the department who worked on “cancer research,” much sexier than enzymology!
Bob took this news in stride and agreed to be on my doctoral committee.

No matter
your plans, life has a way of working out differently much of the time. Despite
my working in another lab on my project, Bob ended up giving me lots of input
and advice on my work. It was in his graduate courses where my love of biophysics
was born and blossomed, an interest that lasts to this day. But perhaps the
most important lesson of my graduate experience had little to do with science
and everything to do with ethics in science.

My first
project in graduate school involved trying to stop the enzyme that HIV uses to
multiply. Since it was an enzymology project, Dr. Shaw was involved with
guiding me through the work. It started off well with exciting results, but
soon things got complicated and I ran into a seemingly insurmountable wall. I
dropped the project and moved on to what became my thesis project. Near the end
of my time in grad school, my future postdoc secured, my graduate advisor
placed a manuscript for publication on my desk. It contained the work from my
first project. However, the data were cherry-picked to support the initial
observations and all the negative data omitted. I was told that if I didn’t
submit the paper with my name as an author, I could not graduate. I knew I could not let this stand and went to
Dr. Shaw and he counseled me to go to the department Chair. Bob knew the work
almost as well as I and understood that this was unethical. My doctoral
committee met and decided that the paper could not be published and that I
could graduate. It was a scary ordeal for a soon to be Ph.D. and I would not
have survived without Bob’s support.

I learned
yesterday that Bob is retiring after a long distinguished career. As I sit here
at my desk and think of journey over the last 30 years I can honestly say that
I don’t think I would be here if I had not had the good fortune to cross path
with Dr. Shaw all those years ago. He passed along to me his love for
biophysics – how biological processes are controlled by the laws of physics –
which led to my lifelong love for how proteins are put together. He taught me
how to always ask the right questions, the big questions, the ones whose
answers matter. He reinforced that it is always OK to stand up for what is
right in science. From him I learned that I should not be the constraint on my
own possibilities, that my own little world wasn’t all there is and that I can
have an impact in the bigger world.

Bob started
off as my teacher, then my mentor, and along the way became a good friend. I
have tried along the way to pass along those same lessons to the many
scientists who have passed through my various research groups through the
years. If I have had half the impact that he has had on my career, then I count
myself both successful and fortunate. Thank you my friend for all you have done
for me and the many others that have crossed your path. Well done! Enjoy your
retirement!

About Me

Research Scientist at Monsanto with a passion in sustainable agriculture and helping small stakeholder farmers in the developing world. All opinions expressed or implied are my own and do not represent the position of Monsanto.

Over 20 years bench experience studying protein structure, folding, and
design. Early work was on determinants of protein secondary structure
from a computational approach. The bulk of my lab work has focused on
the structure and function of bacterial protein toxins, mainly on the
endotoxins produced by Bacillus thuringiensis and their insecticidal
activities. Related to that work I have an interest in the biophysics of
membranes and how they interact with proteins.

During my research time at the bench, I have become a recognized leader
in building science-based platforms as well as a leading developer of
people. I successfully built a protein design group and then wholly
integrated a broad protein science platform of 35+ people. I then moved
outside of my area of technical expertise and built a cell biology
platform of 35+ people working in all areas of plant cell biology, RNA
biology, and genome modification biology. My current task is integrating
a platform of 40+ scientists in the areas of cell biology and
analytical chemistry.

Outside of direct technical scientific work, I am deeply passionate
about the role of agriculture in helping to eliminate extreme poverty
and in building a sustainable world for small stakeholder farmers in
Africa. Providing the broad set of modern agricultural tools to poor
farmers will provide them with the means to not only feed their
families, but to also participate in the broader economy to raise
themselves out of poverty. Where you live should not determine whether
you live and I am pleased to work with the ONE Campaign to help bring
about this change for Sub-Saharan Africa.